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Heart of My Ruler

Okay.

"Till, this way!"

Okay.

"Shit," Mizi spits, whipping around to check behind them. "Where is he?"

Okay, Till thinks as Mizi grabs his wrist, tugging him down the brightly lit hallway. Their footsteps clang against the metal, making their location, no thanks to Mizi's heeled boots, painfully obvious.

They pass by some of the experimental rooms; the mess hall, the dream simulator, each one whizzing by as they run as hard as they can. The aliens aren't far behind, Till can smell their rancid acid as each breath zips down his throat, burning his lungs. He's never been able to outrun them before.

Mizi, you better have a smart-ass plan, or we're seriously fucked. He doesn't have the breath to say it so he thinks it instead, coming within an inch of his life when Mizi suddenly comes to a grinding halt.

"Stop," she gasps, throwing up a hand tightly clenched into a fist.

Till barely manages to stop before slamming into her from behind. He looks confusedly between her and their surroundings, his breaths coming in strangled gasps.

They'd been running through the twisted halls, with no regard for direction, and were now standing in front of the largest room in the complex, formally called the Major Operations Room by the aliens, informally referred to as the Box by all of the residents.

Till's blood freezes in his veins, sending a violent shiver through him despite the sweat dripping down his neck.

He was no stranger to the Box.

Hurried clacking reverberates through the hall, bouncing off the shiny metal walls and bounding toward them. He shivers again, muscles coiling and preparing to grab Mizi to make another run for it, though there aren't many options other than straight ahead. Then, that will lead them right into—

Till can barely tear his eyes away from the Box but when he finally looks at Mizi, hand already reaching out to her, all he sees is a look of relief flooding her soft features.

He's perplexed by the expression but it also works to ease his tensed body and he exhales gustily.

"Mizi," he croaks. "What—?"

"Mimizi, ya-ho!"

Till whips his head to the side, searching the hallways around them for the source of such a sprightly voice, but finds nothing. He looks back at Mizi— it's all he can do— just in time to see a cowardly smile tilt her lips upward.

"Luka," she shouts, humor coloring her tone, and the wheels in Till's head screech to a grinding halt. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten me."

The celebrity— and Till cannot believe he's even thinking this— Luka steps out from behind a corner half the length of the hallway away from them, flashing sharp white teeth at them in a dopey grin. His perfect blond hair shines in the dim hallway light and he's decked out in flashy Stage clothes. He's even better looking in real life.

The fuck is wrong with me?

"Did you have to catch me so quickly, m'love?" He whines, arms spread in question. "Play along a little; it was just starting to get fun."

Out of all the things that were said, all the things they are running from, the word that echoes in Till's mind, lingering like a parasite, has nothing to do with monsters.

Love?

Did he say love?

Mizi breathes a laugh, an eye roll clear in her crystalized voice. "Luka, now clearly isn't the time." She gestures between Till and herself as Luka begins to saunter toward them. "We're currently conducting a prison break."